While landfill sites in national Capital remain a cause of concern for the policy makers, Delhi’s huge dumping grounds have grown taller than its prescribed standards by 2 metres to 15 metres in a span of just 12 months.
Importantly, the landfill site at Gazipur is an un-engineered dumping ground. It would be pertinent to mention here that the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEF&CC) had changed Solid Waste Management (SWM) rules. The Ministry has set a rule for the height of landfill site and fixed a cap of 20 meters on landfill sites.
It may be recalled that a source of air-pollution and accidents, nearly one per cent of the Ghazipur landfill collapsed in September 2017, claiming two lives.
Over past year, Ghazipur has grown taller by 15 meters, from 50 metres in 2017 to about 65 metres at present, officials told. Besides, the landfill at Bhalaswa has grown by about two metres and that at Okhla has gained five metres in height and acquired 14 acres of additional area.
“It’s gaining height rather than losing as planned. At present Ghazipur landfill site must be around 60 ot 65 metres. About 50 per cent is bio-degradable while about five to seven per cent is plastic,” Pradeep Khandelwal, Chief Engineer of East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), said.
“We have been successful in avoiding untoward incidents; there have only been two fire incidents since October 2017,” Khandelwal said, adding that EDMC, in collaboration with IIT-Delhi, is working on giving a proper shape and slope to the landfill so that it does not collapse.
The Ghazipur landfill, spread over 70 acres of land, holds about 150 lakh tonnes of waste. It was suppose to be shut in 2008 as it had been polluting the air, water and soil since 1984.
Officials at EDMC reiterated a two-year-old story that solid-waste from Ghazipur will be used by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) for constructing a 74 km stretch of the 137-km-long Delhi-Meerut Expressway. There's been no forward movement on this.
“About 2,000 tonnes of mixed garbage is dumped here everyday,” Sanjay Jain, Engineer, Department of Environment Maintenance Services (DEMS) at North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), that manages Bhalaswa landfill site, said.
The Bhalaswa landfill is spread over 40 acres and has gained about two metres in height since 2017, officials said. “Our plan is to cap the height here... a tender for waste to energy is awaited, so that it does not grow any further,” Jain added.
The Okhla landfill site under South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has stopped growing after adding five metres in the past year. Waste is now dumped at another recently-acquired 14-acre plot.
“We have stopped further dumping as the landfill grew to 55 metres spread over 32 acres. Additional 14 acres of area is partially operational for now,” Tufel Ahmed, an SDMC official said. He added that the plan is to reduce the height of Okhla landfill to 30-35 metres, for which the process of cutting and sloping is underway.
According to Ahmed, a new waste-to-energy plant at Okhla, for which the tendering process is being worked out, will help divert 2,000 to 2,200 tonnes of garbage being dumped there every day.
Delhi is also top producer of plastic waste -- 689.52 tonnes daily, while India produces over 25,000 tonnes every day, of which only 60 per cent is collected and processed, according to Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan.